Customer Reviews

True Sexual Morality: Recovering Biblical Standards for a Culture in Crisis

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I can't express you how delighted I am that this work exists. I have been talking about it and describing it and recommending it incessantly.

Heimbach clarifies the problem we face so marvelously, and writes so readably, there is no excuse for this book not to become a standard reference. I'm not sure I have ever endorsed a book this highly.

It is essential that we stand back and examine the great myth we all have grown up inside of, which skews and distorts our understanding of what God wants and expects of us regarding sexuality. I myself had no idea how harmful the Romantic sexual paradigm is, and how much I need to correct in my self; I grew up listening to the songs quoted in the book, and came to realize that the Romantic set of assumptions suffuses my instincts regarding sexuality. It is somewhat wrenching, the process of removal of those false assumptions, but liberating and exciting, too. I have always tried to hold the Bible in tension with what I absorbed as "obviously true" about real-life sexual morality. Heimbach doesn't scold or decree; he takes the reader out of the maelstrom, and examines all of our assumptions from a perspective-giving distance. When we return to our accustomed way of thinking, we discover that we now know why we've been wrong all along, like a kid who gives up thumb-sucking for lent, and finds no pleasure in it when he tries it again the day after Easter.

The other paradigms he examines (playboy, thereputic and pagan) are less applicable to me personally, but I am confident that Christians looking for answers to those sets of issues will be just as satisfied. It is a comprehensive work. Perhaps, it's the definitive work on the subject.

Wow! Is my response to this book.
The author of True Sexual Morality (henceforth TSM) knows his Bible.
He also knows his sexual mores. They are Scriptural.
This book is not an easy read. It is one that is important, however. As the subtitle states, we are a culture in crisis. We need to recover Biblical standards. If professors, teachers, preachers, and all Christians would take heed to this book we could indeed recover these Biblical standards. Our churches, as well as our culture, are in crisis.
From the spiritualizing of sex by paganism to the spiritual aspect of sex in Christianity; from the reason why sex should be exclusive to marriage to the reasons against polygamy, TSM covers its subject matter almost exhaustively.
TSM should be given a second subtitle: "An Encyclopedia of Christian Sexual Ethics." I don't think there is anything neglected.
TSM should be used as a textbook in every Christian Bible college, seminary, university, and should be used as a reference by every committed Bible teacher.
It's that good.

This book does an excellent job of examining sexual morality in our culture today and demonstrating the necessity to return to a traditional understanding. This conservative work should be required reading for anyone concerned with sexual ethics.

This book is an amazing work that follows the descent of sex into pagan worship in America. Highly recommended for all Christians who desire to truly understand sex in culture!!!

This book contends that sex is the center of moral crisis in America and that the trends we have currently adopted (tolerance of homosexuality, permissive pre-marital sexual relations, pursuit of sex for pleasure, etc.) will inevitably lead to a social collapse. Heimbach's arguments are based almost entirely on unsupported speculation. His social theories are flawed and inadequate. His references are frequently taken out of their proper context and misinterpreted. To make matters worse, Heimbach attempts to use these references to denounce paganism and encourage society's return to the same intolerant, cynical society it was in the early 1900s. This is a poor effort to support an unworthy cause. Sadly, it is likely that many irrational Christians have taken this book to heart and will thoughtlessly follow its teachings. For those who think critically, however, this book will be of no interest.

Heimbach clarifies nothing. The author clearly has no understanding of the nature of paganism and his references and sources are highly suspect as well as taken out of context. If you wish to be lead blindly down a false path, then purchase this book; otherwise, do yourself and the power of truth a favor and ignore this author completely.